Written Evidence Submitted by SC Johnson Professional
(CLL0036)
2. With our earlier submission we submitted “8 Moments for Targeted Hygiene”, a paper we had drawn together based upon our long experience of protecting professionals in the health care and other professional sectors. We worked with Professor Sally Bloomfield, who chairs the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH), in creating this guidance document and have since discussed this approach with the Behavioural Insights Team, the Royal Society for Public Health, the British Cleaning Council, the Cleaning and Hygiene Suppliers Association and have also approached the British Standards Institute and the Health and Safety Executive. Our aim has always been to attempt to draw together as many authoritative bodies as possible with a common goal of improving the public understanding of hand hygiene. This is based upon the same principles of transmission risk and behaviour as the WHO’s guidance for healthcare settings that have proved effective in managing healthcare acquired infections.
3. There is a great deal of official guidance on how to create and work within a COVID-secure environment. It concerns us that the majority of guidance deals with the manner in which a building or public place can be made “COVID-secure”. This messaging emanated from the government in an attempt to assist businesses and facility managers as they dealt with a partial or total return to work over the summer. Every facility manager and owner has a duty of care to those who enter or work in a particular environment and guidance as to how to maintain clean spaces, install hygiene equipment, restrict social contact and manage air flow is crucial. However, it is the behaviour of individuals within a space, rather than the space itself, which exposes them to risk and we believe greater emphasis should be placed on the manner in which we can all take steps to break the chain of infection.
4. The government messaging which migrated to “Hands, Face, Space” goes some way to dealing with the behavioural change required. We believe this should go further as no environment can be maintained in a constant “COVID-secure” state. The onus is on each of us to decontaminate our hands as we enter and exit premises, touch common surfaces, use the toilet, prepare food, eat, sit at workstations, cough, sneeze, blow our noses and handle refuse. Although this is undoubtedly more complicated than the simple message to “wash hands thoroughly”, it does draw attention to places and moments when hand hygiene is most important. The confusion between clean surfaces and hygienic behaviour only serves to give a false sense of security to individuals. If there is one message aside from social distancing and wearing masks which needs to be emphasised it is the need to remember to clean hands at key moments when you might have come in contact with a contaminated surface, or potentially spread a pathogen through touch.
5. WHO has recently called out that “Handwashing can’t stop – millions of lives are at stake”. In addition to referencing UK government messages as a positive example, they advocate strongly for the establishment of permanent hygiene infrastructures and that “Crucially, creative and compelling messaging is desperately needed in many communities to motivate people to adopt hand hygiene as a critical life-long habit”. We agree entirely with this sentiment and feel that our suggested “8 Moments for Targeted Hygiene” model provides a sufficiently simple yet complete template to both guide the design of that infrastructure and to support the adoption of life-long habits.
6. We would be willing to give oral evidence on the need for targeted hygiene and the relevance of our experience in health care settings. If, as a society, we are to live with this virus and attempt anything like a return to normal daily life, then it is essential that we learn new behaviour patterns to protect ourselves wherever possible.
John Hines
Global RD&E Director
(November 2020)